The Kekkapää House

The site is situated on a rocky hillside in a rural landscape, facing west. The simple, pitch-roofed building fits in well with the scale and expansiveness of the surroundings.

The house divides the site into a busy front garden and a quieter upper slope that has been left in its natural state. There are three zones in the building, one behind another: the home, the working space, and a glass-roofed conservatory connecting the two.

The house is stiffened with mast-like laminated timber posts, with plywood, and with stainless steel ties at the end of the building. The horizontal construction consists of a laminated timber frame with glued and screwed plywood sheets and in situ concrete floors.

The laminated timber components are built up from thin strips of pine. The cladding boards are sawn spruce treated with a translucent finish. Plywood is used in the interiors, for the built-in furniture and for fitting the windows.

The ventilated timber structure is let into the rock. The maintenance space around the house enables the construction and services to be monitored and repaired.